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Developer IO Interactive has opened up about the split with Square Enix, detailing some of the difficulties in making Hitman 2.
In an interview with Gamespot, associate director Eskil Mohl spoke about the break up, where says he remembered thinking, ‘Oh sh*t, we’re flying over the Atlantic and we don’t have enough gas to get there. So what the hell do we do?’
The company was already well into development on Hitman 2, the follow-up to 2016’s well-praised Hitman.
Mohl went into detail about the layoffs that IO faced in the wake of Square Enix’s decision to terminate the partnership.
‘We had to let a lot of people go. But that made the team that was left really come together [and say] ‘Let’s do this, we believe in the product’. We were already working on Hitman 2 and then this thing happened,’ said Mohl. ‘It sort of unified us in a way. Yeah, it’s been super hard, but its always a lot of work, but it’s fun work. It really made us go, ‘Yeahhh we can do it!’
He went on to explain that the two companies were amicable, and that Square Enix was very good natured. ‘I have to say, after Square left us, they’ve been extremely nice to us. They had to focus on other stuff, so that was fair,’ he says.
It was through a deal with Warner Bros. that IO is able to release Hitman 2 – a partnership that Mohl is pleased with. ‘We’re super happy with Warner Bros. And they seem to be happy with us, right? [looks at PR person in the room].’
Hitman is out on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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